Legacy Software Conversion Tool

Under MDA07-005 Harmonia, Inc., in partnership with Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS), will build a system to cost effectively modernize legacy information, sensor, space platform, and weapons systems such as the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) written in languages such as Ada83. We develop an innovative new toolset that guides the engineer through a comprehensive methodology to inventory and understand the legacy system to be modernized, estimate the cost benefit of reusing versus rewriting the legacy code, extract and translate reusable components from the legacy system for use in new architectures, and verify the correctness of the translated code. Our toolset improves upon the state of the art in several ways: breaks the "black box" of most conversion methods to facilitate a human-involved process of discovery; reduces cost by automating tedious migration tasks; fosters and encourages “educated conversion,” allowing the engineer to understand the code as it is converted; preserves understanding for future engineers through a repository of reusable components, documentation, and annotations; and utilizes flexible methodology and Open Source technology including Eclipse to provide a robust platform for migrating legacy code to C++ that is extensible to C++ .NET, Java, and other languages within STSS and beyond.